The state’s thoroughbred horsemen, who since last year have run Monmouth Park, filed a motion in U.S. District Court to intervene in the lawsuit filed against the state in August by the National Football League and four other major sports organizations.

Track officials hope to offer betting on professional and collegiate sports as soon as Jan. 9, when a moratorium on issuance of sports betting licenses to tracks or Atlantic City casinos is scheduled to be lifted. A federal judge on Wednesday denied the leagues’ request to set the court timetable back by 30 days, leaving in place both the expiration date of the moratorium as well as a Dec. 18 hearing for oral arguments:

The horsemen stated that “sports betting is an essential component of the … overall plan to save Monmouth Park and make it an economically self-sustaining thoroughbred racetrack. Saving Monmouth Park is not just about the best interests of Monmouth Park. Studies have shown that the New Jersey equine industry is critical to New Jersey’s economy, the preservation of open space, and the maintenance of thousands of jobs.”

Surrounding states have allowed racetrack purses to be supplemented by a portion of revenues from slot machines installed at the tracks. But Governor Christie opposes expanding such gambling outside of Atlantic City, so the horsemen have looked instead to sports betting as a way for the racing industry to cut its losses.

There have been no indications yet of interest by other racetracks or by Atlantic City casinos to offer sports betting, in part because of the federal prohibition. The horsemen told the court that they needed a clear directive from the court on the legality of the New Jersey law “before making the substantial investment in time and money needed to open [a] sports betting venue.”

The leagues’ lawsuit is based on a 20-year federal law that allows sports betting in expansive form only in Nevada while allowing three other states — Delaware, Montana and Oregon — to continue to offer the limited wagering those states had permitted at the time the law was enacted.

The state attorney general’s office has called that law unconstitutional, because Congress is allowing four states a revenue-enhancing option that it does not grant to the other 46 states. The horsemen offered similar arguments on Wednesday, saying that if the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act is legal, “then 46 states have become federal quasi-colonies.”

Attorneys for the governing bodies for collegiate sports and baseball, football, basketball, and hockey have pointed out that the purpose of the law — sponsored by former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley — is to maintain the integrity of sports in the public’s mind.

“Amateur and professional sports are an integral part of American culture, particularly among the country’s youth who often look up to athletes as role models,” the attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. But a statewide sports betting ballot referendum passed by a margin of 2 to 1 last November, and the Democratically-controlled legislature quickly passed a sports betting bill that was then signed by Governor Christie.